


Otara

by ryfkah



Series: Space Jews Celebrating Space Purim [1]
Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 1, Gen, Jewish Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-19
Updated: 2016-03-19
Packaged: 2018-05-27 17:07:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6292720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryfkah/pseuds/ryfkah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I'm not complaining, but – well, actually, I am complaining. Where's the party, and why wasn't I invited?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Otara

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mihrsuri](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mihrsuri/gifts).



Bashir surveyed Kira. “You, too? I've got three cases of alcohol poisoning, two of indigestion, and one fellow who seems to have trapped himself in his own party hat. I'm not complaining, but – well, actually, I am complaining. Where's the party, and why wasn't I invited?”

Kira – covered in white powder, and with sticky streaks of something blue clotting on her face – looked unimpressed.

“Also,” Bashir added belatedly, “what's the matter?”

Kira held up her arm. A bright red mark showed on her wrist. “I was baking.” 

“ _You_ … were baking.”

Much to his surprise, she actually smiled. “Trying to bake. At least I didn't set anything on fire.” 

“Sit down there.” Bashir pointed to one of the medical cots. “You seem very cheerful, for a woman with a first-degree burn.” 

“It's Otara. Being cranky on Otara is sacriligious.”

“Ah,” said Bashir. He tried, without much luck, to work out whether Kira meant this seriously or not. “I take it Otara is the reason for all the, ah, excessive good spirits on the station?” 

“Excessive? This is nothing compared to what it would have been like before the Occupation. It's the first chance most of us have ever had to actually celebrate --” She grinned, a little sourly, and flicked the red mark on her arm. “And we're still not all that good at it.” 

“Oh – you'll catch on,” Bashir said airily, to mask his discomfort. “A religious holiday, then? There must be quite a story behind it.”

“It's not a bad one. The holiday dates from way back to the early days of Bajor, before the first Kai. It's named after a woman, Otar, who married a – I guess you'd call him a king – who hadn't yet heard the voice of the Prophets. Anyway, this king had an adviser who was under the influence of the Pah'wraiths, and the adviser --”

“Let me guess,” said Bashir, “he tried to convince the king that the people of the Prophet were a threat to his power, and should be violently removed?”

Kira blinked at him. “'Good guess.”

“The story's sounding somewhat familiar,” said Bashir, reaching for the dermal regenerator. “Oh, go on – I apologize for interrupting.”

“Well – the king's wife was afraid that if he found out she was a believer in the Prophets, it would just convince him that they'd all been scheming against him, so she went to her vedek to ask what she should do. The vedek told Otar to bring the king one of the Orbs, and whatever he saw in the Orb should determine his course of action –” 

“And when he looked in the Orb, he saw proof that the adviser had been scheming against him and embraced the Prophets in his heart? The adviser was executed, the proto-Bajorans celebrated, and there was feasting and revelry for all unto this day, perhaps involving symbolic baked goods?”

A frown line was deepening in the middle of Kira's forehead. “Something like that.” 

“I'm not making light of it,” Bashir said, quickly. “There's a similar religious holiday in my --”

“ _You?_ ”

“Yes – certainly.” Now it was Bashir's turn to feel slightly offended. “Why so surprised?”

“Well, it's just – I _really_ never got the impression any of you Federation types were people of faith.” 

“I can't really speak,” said Bashir, stiffly, “for the rest of us Federation types, but certainly some of us have certain –-” He would never have thought to describe himself as a person of faith; still, it stung oddly to have the possibility so summarily dismissed. He drew himself up to his full height and tried again. “As it happens, Earth features a wide variety of religious beliefs. While many are no longer actively practiced, or have become more cultural than --”

“Ah,” said Kira, with a slightly pitying look. 

Bashir felt himself stiffening up even further. “Some of us,” he told her, “do not have the luxury or visibility of having our particular religious identity embraced by an entire planet --” Belatedly he realized that this had come out rather like he was trying to out-oppress a woman whose entire monoreligious planet had just survived a brutal occupation, and rapidly backtracked. “It's a very small minority, even on Earth, and one that was frequently, ah, historically repressed. In the bad old days, of course. So it wouldn't surprise me if you'd never heard of Judaism. That's all.”

Kira's face, which had begun to take on a hard, wary look, relaxed a little, allowing a glimmer of curiosity to come through. “So you're – a Judaism?” 

“Jewish,” said Bashir, taking refuge once again in briskness. “And it looks like you're all set, Major. As far as follow-up treatment, I prescribe a healthy course of Otara celebrations – and will hope to see you back here again, perhaps for a case of alcohol poisoning, later in the day.” 

This was not the right thing to say. Kira's mouth quirked in a tight, dry smile. “Thanks, Doctor.” 

As she hopped down from the chair, Bashir, on a sudden impulse, keyed a few symbols into his medcorder. It had been a long time since he'd had cause to look up this particular calendar. “Major – if you come back in, ah --” He checked down again. “-- about a month --”

“Mm?”

“Actually, make that twenty-nine days from now – it's quite possible I'll be attempting to concoct symbolic pastries out of chickpeas and - er - well, I'll look it up. It will most likely go disastrously,” said Bashir, “but you're welcome to share whatever output is generated.”

To his surprise, he seemed to have said the right thing this time. “Sure,” Kira said, with a genuine smile. “I'll look forward to it.”

[](http://s1305.photobucket.com/user/ryfkah/media/space%20purim%20kira%20dax_zps35wkeih4.jpg.html)  
  



End file.
